Bluedot, the festival that happens in the grounds of Jodrell Bank, is to take a fallow year in 2024, and will return in 2025.
This year’s festival was hit with disastrous weather, turning the site into a mudbath.
Over 130 tonnes of woodchips and an additional 1.5km of additional tracks were scrambled onto the festival site to combat the weather, but it still meant that Sunday ticket holders were told not to attend the event due to issues with logistics getting people on and off the site.
In a statement, organisers said: “When we set out on the journey that is Bluedot, our mission was to create a unique experience – a combination of discovery, exploration and grand cosmic ideas, soundtracked by the finest musicians from across the planet.
“An opportunity once a year to explore new and unique collaborations between science, music and the arts, to be amongst like-minded adventurers, and to rediscover and celebrate our shared humanity.
“Underpinning Bluedot’s mission is a sincere love and respect for the earth and environment we are lucky to be part of. However, the earth beneath Bluedot took a lot of strain.
“Experiencing the highest level of rainfall on the festival weekend since records began (records courtesy of Jodrell Bank’s own weather station!), we have patiently waited to see what the effects of this have been on the land itself.
“We have now sadly reached the conclusion that the ground on which the bluedot universe is built desperately needs some time to recover; a period of rest during which the soil will recover and regenerate.”
The first Bluedot festival happened in 2016, and featured headliner Jean-Michel Jarre alongside the likes of Caribou, Air and Underworld, as well as talks and workshops from a host of world-respected scientists.
It’s since played host to acts including Kraftwerk, Orbital, Brian Eno, The Chemical Brothers, Gary Numan, New Order and The Flaming Lips.
The festival missed both the 2020 and 2021 slots due to the pandemic, but returned in 2022 with a headline set from Bjork.
This year’s festival featured performances from icons including Grace Jones and Pavement.
